A slice of bacon a day….

Brooks Reynolds, founder of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, is on a mission to prove that bacon isn’t as bad for people’s health as previously reported.

Last October, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that processed meats, including bacon, were carcinogenic. According to that report, consumers eating about 1.8 ounces of processed meat daily can increase the risk of colorectal cancer by about 18 percent.

Reynolds is donating his body to bacon science, so to speak. He went to the doctor recently for a physical exam, where his cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate and other bodily statistics were checked and recorded. In a year, Reynolds will return for another physical. During that time, Reynolds plans to eat 10 to 20 bacon slices a week. He also plans to exercise more, including riding in the Bacoon Ride, a 71-mile bacon-themed bike ride in June on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which begins and ends in Waukee, Iowa.

“I’ll be a guinea pig for a year,” Reynolds says.

His goal is simple.

“[I want to show] that the WHO’s study that bacon is bad for you is wrong,” Reynolds says.

Results of Reynolds’ before-and-after physical exams will be announced at the 10th-annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in 2017 in Des Moines, Iowa. This year’s festival, set for Feb. 20 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, is expected to draw up to 14,000 people.

Clearly, Reynolds expects to receive a clean bill of health at the study’s conclusion – with bacon as part of his diet.

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